Saucon Valley teachers say possibility of strike back on

Area parents discuss the potential Saucon Valley Teachers strike and a delay to the start of the school year. ///// CHRIS SHIPLEY / SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL

Area parents discuss the potential Saucon Valley Teachers strike and a delay to the start of the school year. ///// CHRIS SHIPLEY / SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL (CHRIS SHIPLEY / SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL)

The Saucon Valley teachers union notified district officials Tuesday it wants to go back to the bargaining table instead of entering nonbinding arbitration before a single arbitrator, district labor attorney Jeffrey Sultanik said.

In addition, the union announced the possibility of a strike is back on the table but did not submit an official notice, which would be required 48 hours in advance of a strike, Sultanik said.

Teachers previously said they would go to nonbinding arbitration in lieu of a strike during the remainder of the school year.

The school board voted April 28 to move to nonbinding arbitration if a May 7 bargaining session failed to produce a deal. The board later rejected a new contract proposal submitted by the union during that session.

Details of that proposal are confidential, but Sultanik said it cost $2.8 million more than the district's bottom-line offer.

After the board rejected the offer, the teachers verbally agreed to enter nonbinding arbitration, and both sides had been working out the terms of that process, Sultanik said.

On Tuesday, the union notified the district it wants to go back to the bargaining table "since it is no longer likely the parties could resolve all the technical issues relating to the nonbinding arbitration process," Sultanik said in a prepared statement.

"The parties are still far apart on a health care plan and premium share," he said.

"The school board believed, and still believes, that it has exhausted all reasonable collective bargaining efforts to solve the almost 31/2-year labor dispute," Sultanik said. "That is why the board was willing, and is still willing, to go to a third party and receive his or her recommendation on resolving this yet-to-be-resolved dispute."

Union chief negotiator Rich Simononis said in a prepared statement that school board officials changed the terms of the nonbinding arbitration process teachers agreed to, but he did not specify what changed.

The board's decision to revert to an October 2014 proposal as its bottom line offer is "regressive," he said.

"This move puts the two sides much further apart," Simononis said. "This is the board's decision, to continue to play bargaining games, waste time, and taxpayer money."

The Saucon Valley Education Association has proposed negotiating sessions resume June 1 and 4, according to an email the district received Tuesday from union attorney Andrew Muir.

The teachers voted in April to authorize a strike, giving their union negotiating committee the power to call for a walkout.

The authorization came after the school board rejected extending the April 10 deadline for teachers to vote on the board's Feb. 26 proposal, which district officials had said was their bottom-line offer.

Because teachers missed the deadline, that offer was pulled and a less generous proposal from October was back on the table.

If teachers decide to strike before the end of the school year, they would be limited in the number of days they have to picket.

According to state law, teachers must provide students with 180 instructional days by June 15, Sultanik has said. The number of snow days during the year also subtracts from the time teachers have to strike.

The last day for students this year is June 12, according to the school district's calendar.

If the district's 180 teachers were to strike before the year is out, they would only have one day to demonstrate before being required to come back to work, Sultanik said Tuesday.